Soft Hands Cut Deeper
by RibbonsInHerHair
Summary: 'She had lost her mind. There was no other explanation. Why on earth this woman, who he could have believed didn't have a demure bone in her body, was suddenly a shy, sweet creature that was bandaging his latest wound with gentle, gliding hands, he could not even imagine.'
1. Chapter 1

Sagara Sanosuke was in trouble.

Not the usual kind of trouble – there were no murderous henchmen's skulls to crack today – but one he considered far more dangerous.

_She had lost her mind. There was no other explanation._

For three days, the lady doctor had only conversed with him in quiet tones, lips curled into a demure smile, eyes gazing up at him through those long lashes, the very picture of _yamato nadeshiko. _

It was completely unnatural.

Megumi was a loud woman with unabashed opinions and straightforward eyes, and she hid her softer side locked so firmly beneath a shell of sarcasm and sharp wit that he had only glimpsed it at the truly trying moments of their odd acquaintance.

They had been enemies first, when Sano had hated her for her hand in his friend's death. Later, they were grudging allies who put up with each other only at the behest of their friends. He eventually was forced to go to her to patch him up when he was more hole than man, and somehow, along the way, they had become friends and commentators on the state of their friends' lives and mental health.

As she vigorously (Sano would say sadistically) bandaged his hand or knee or whatever part of him had been pummeled last, she would bemoan Kaoru's uncertainty when it came to Kenshin, her constant fear that he would take up wandering again. He would agree and wonder why Kenshin wouldn't just settle down with Jo-chan, since it was obvious that would make them both the most happy. Maybe then Jo-chan would stop being so violent, and hell, maybe Kenshin could even teach the girl how to cook a little!

Despite that one area where they had the same opinion, Sano and Megumi fought like cats and dogs the rest of the time they spent in each other's' company. Their personalities wouldn't allow for anything else – the pair of them were too stubborn not to resist jabbing at each other with every chance they got.

So why on earth this woman, who he could have believed didn't have a demure bone in her body, was suddenly a shy, sweet creature that was bandaging his latest wound with gentle, gliding hands, he could not even imagine.

There was something going on here, and he was not seeing what it was, and, staring intently at her as she worked on a cut to his bicep, Sano had a feeling it was meant to end badly for him.

But the worst of it was that this was so wildly unlike her and that somehow pissed Sano off.

"What's gotten into you?" he barked bluntly.

Megumi lifted her gaze to meet his for a second, before flicking her eyes back down, eyelashes fluttering. Sano nearly growled.

"I don't know what you mean, Sano."

Had she ever used his actual name before? Sano was sure she hadn't.

"Cut the bullshit. You're acting like some fresh-faced _maiko_ from Yoshiwara, and it doesn't suit you, fox-lady."

For the first time in three days, he saw a flicker of irritation in the tightening of her mouth, but it smoothed out in the next second and her face was a mask of serenity once more.

"I'm certain I don't know what you're talking about, Sano. There, all done." She patted his freshly bandaged arm softly.

"Wha-" Sano tried to protest the abrupt end to his interrogation, but was silenced by the same unnervingly gentle fingers on his bicep brushing down the length of his arm, almost to his wrist, as she pulled away.

Sano stared dumbfounded as she walked to assist another patient, her hips swaying under her blue _michiyuki._

* * *

It didn't end there, either.

Over the next few weeks, when he came to see her for regular checkups on his battered right hand, she spoke to him with her face tucked down and eyes angled up, the words coming from her pretty mouth professional, even as her thumb traced a subtle circle across his knuckles. It was all little things like that: she touched him a second too long when she examined his wounds, her laugh was just slightly breathy, her hair would fall forward and brush his shoulder accidentally. It smelled like sakura petals.

Sano would scowl and bat it away.

He wanted to confront her again, to shake her by the shoulders until she confessed to doing this to him, but part of him wasn't sure.

A doctor did have to have a certain amount of contact with a patient. Was he imagining things?

If he was, his own mind was starting to get to him.

Sano got into a fight three weeks after Megumi had started to go crazy with some punks picking on hapless Tsubame running errands for the Akabeko. One of them had gotten lucky, and when Sano sheepishly slid open the front door of the clinic, head bleeding, Megumi hadn't called him an idiot like usual but at least she rolled her eyes as he sat. He'd grinned at her familiar bothered expression, but the next second had to grit his teeth against a groan as Megumi slid her hands into his hair, her nails gently scraping his scalp as they searched out the growing lump, sending shivers down his spinal cord.

And gods forbid he need aid on an injury somewhere below his belt again, because two days after that he learned the hard way that Megumi with her new-found air of innocence, on her knees before him and tenderly massaging the torn ligament behind his knee was more fucking dangerous than a million Shishio Makotos.

He vowed to stay away from her, until she regained her normally sharp demeanor, but the damned fox woman had already worked under his skin.

He awoke more often than not now gasping for breath, flashes of pale skin and wicked lips fading before his eyes as reality took hold.

"Are you alright, Sano?" Kenshin asked, noting with concern the dark circles ringing his friend's eyes. "You look tired."

Sano grimaced as he sipped his morning tea, both at Kenshin's inquiry and because the tea was made by Kaoru.

"Fine," he grunted, not making eye contact.

"Bet some woman from the red-light district is wearing his good-for-nothing ass out," Yahiko supplied, mouth stuffed with rice and miso. "Hey, Sano, be careful. Heard those ladies can suck a man's soul out of his-"

Kaoru's and Sano's fists landed upside his head at the same time.

"Hey! I was offering some good advice!" the boy shouted indignantly.

"You're about a hundred years too young to be giving me advice on women, brat," Sano snorted, settling back again.

His eyes flicked to Megumi who was reading a doctor's journal and sipping her tea carefully, face calm.

Sano's eyes narrowed. Here she was, perfectly put together and proper, while he felt like he was walking on a fine edge.

It wasn't right that Sagara Sanosuke could be this thrown by a woman that barely reached his shoulder.

He'd find a time to ask her again what the hell was going on in her head, and he wouldn't let her get away this time.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yo, fox-lady," Sano drawled, crowding into her space by the medicine cabinet in the clinic. "I have some work for you."

She sent a coy look over her shoulder at him and smiled, continuing to mix the medicine she had carefully prepared on the cabinet's counter. "Banged your head again, Sano?"

"Nah, not me, my friend busted a shoulder working construction the other day. I said I knew a certain doctor that could help him out." He poked her in the side with a finger, knowing she hated that.

To her credit, she barely jumped.

"I can't today, Sano. We're running out of ingredients and if I don't mix them properly today, we won't have enough medicine to last the week. Would you tell your friend sorry for me?"

_So goddamn polite all of a sudden._

He frowned at the back of her head. "Ahh, come on, _Megumi._ He works for a living, and the sooner he can get back to his job the better. If it were Kenshin, would you leave him out to dry?" He could see her wavering. "'Sides, wouldn't you like for me to be in your debt?"

"Alright then, Sano," she replied, smiling sweetly, "I'll come see your friend. My doctor's pride won't let me ignore someone in need, anyways." She tilted her head, and for a second the maidenly façade dropped and she met his gaze once more – an answer to his challenge.

"I'll let you know when I want to call that favor in."

Sano grinned. "Knew I could count on you, fox."

* * *

"Well, I'll be. Sano here said he knew a doctor but I had no idea he knew such a pretty one!" Tawada Gozaemon hooted, punching Sano ungently in the arm.

Megumi smiled at the older man. He was the type of male that Sano always got along with – a hard-working man of the earth, with a wide smile and skin as tanned as leather from long hours of laboring outdoors. He cursed like a devil, drank copious amounts of sake, and knew how to count his blessings.

"Thank you, Tawada-san," Megumi answered, "I'm happy to help a friend of Sano's."

"Polite too! Why, if I were twenty years younger…" He winked at Megumi as she gently moved his left arm in circles, gauging the damage.

"Hmm. Does this hurt much, Tawada-san?"

"Well…if I'm being honest with you, it does hurt a fair bit," Gozaemon winced, crow's feet crinkling.

Megumi prodded the limb, feeling for knots and tears. "I think you may have ripped the muscle a bit, Tawada-san. I can make you a compress that will ease the pain, but you will have to rest in order for it to heal properly – and no excuses!" Megumi scolded in a tone that Sano recognized as her no-nonsense doctor's voice.

"Yes, ma'am!" Tawada saluted her with one hand, grinning. "Sano, you ungrateful brat, keeping a lady like Megumi-sensei all to yourself this whole time!"

"Ahh, shut up geezer, or I'll bust up your other arm," Sano replied, casually spitting the fishbone he had been chewing on in Tawada's direction, which earned him smack to the ear. "That's 'most honorable geezer' to you, boy."

"Shitty old man!"

"Oho! The little brat thinks he can talk to his elders that way, now, huh?" Tawada cracked his knuckles, grinning.

"Grandpas like you should sit quietly," Sano answered, eyes glinting in amusement as he shoved up his sleeves.

"Here's the compress, Tawada-san!" Megumi called, interrupting the men before their tussle could escalate further.

They both looked over to Megumi, kneeling demurely and holding bandages.

"Ah- thank you, Megumi-sensei!" Tawada answered, a little abashed.

"I'll show you how to apply the mixture to the bandages and how to wrap them, and I've left a bit more of the ingredients in this bag if the pain comes back. You should add a little warm water and mix it until it is a thick paste, and don't forget to redo the bandages every day until the pain recedes."

She busied herself with slowly bandaging the old man's wiry shoulder, making sure he saw how she did it. "There, all done, Tawada-san! You'll be as good as new in no time at all."

"You are amazing, Megumi-sensei. How much do I owe you?" Tawada asked.

Megumi waved one hand airily, brushing aside his question. "Oh, lucky for you, Tawada-san, we just got a new shipment of ingredients. These are on the house – oh, now, no complaints! If I hadn't used them today they would have been thrown out, so I should be thanking you for your timely injury,"

"Well, I always aim to please," Tawada joked.

Sano stared at Megumi as she packed up her things.

"Hey, wai-"

Megumi got to her feet in one elegant swoop, nearly knocking Sano over. "Well, we'll be off, Tawada-san. It was lovely to meet you, and I hope to see you again soon," she smiled, "when you've rested and recovered."

With that she swept out of the doorway, and Sano found himself having to catch up.

"Hey, fox-"he attempted, but Megumi hurried forward even faster.

"I'm going to Kaoru's; are you coming?" She threw the question over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh good! I can't handle Ken-san and Kaoru without you. They are just too oblivious of each other sometimes." And with that, she slowed and curled her small hand delicately around his bicep, leaning against him as she walked.

Sano, shocked into silence, could only gape at the offending appendage, the small nails – cut short so she could work – scraping daintily at the fabric of his jacket.

Megumi all but had to drag him the rest of the way to the dojo.

* * *

"Ohohoho, Kaoru, really, if you can't even make _onigiri _how do you plan on keeping a man?" Megumi cackled, eyes dancing and red lips curled in a grin of delight, as Kaoru stewed, her sad attempts at onigiri crumbling in her fists.

"You shut up! It's harder than it looks, alright?" Kaoru chucked a wooden spoon at Megumi, though it missed its mark and bounced off of Kenshin's forehead.

"Oro?"

"Look, you devil-woman, Yahiko's eating my cooking!"

"Yahiko is a child, they eat anything."

"Oi! I am a man, alright!?And I'm only eating this shitty food because I have a man's appetite and- OW!"

"You don't have to hit him for telling the truth, Kaoru."

"Now, now, Kaoru-dono is getting better, everyone. Remember the soup that almost killed Sano?"

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yes, well done Kaoru. You have graduated from almost murdering people to simply over-salting everything. Remarkable progress, actually."

"That's it-get out of my house, you free-loaders!"

And with that Sano found himself shoved into the street, Megumi stumbling out by his side.

"Well, that was about as loud as it always is," Sano yawned, carelessly lacing his hands behind his head.

"It would be odd if it wasn't," Megumi replied, brushing some imaginary dirt off her yukata, "And you normally would be causing some of that ruckus yourself."

Sano heard the question in her words, and grunted. "And what about you? You got along with everyone the same as usual."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes, so?"

He wanted to ask why he was the only one she was treating any differently.

"Never mind. Come on, fox-lady, it's almost dark out. I'll walk you home."

The walk back to the clinic was silent, though the air was alive with the hum of cicadas, the deep-throated thrum of frogs in the reeds by the river, the brush of summer leaves stirring in the cool dusk wind. Sano, deep in thought, frowned at the road ahead of thm.

Megumi slid open the door to the small clinic, but the inside was dark. "Gensai-sensei?" she called softly, but there was no reply. She turned to Sano who had followed her in and shut the door behind them.

"He must have gone ho-"

Before she could finish, Sano had taken her by the elbows and pulled her close, his dark eyes serious as he studied her face.

"Sano-,"she breathed, eyes widening.

"What's going on, Megumi?" he asked, voice lowered.

"What do you mean?" she asked, but Sano saw that she didn't meet his eyes.

"All this. You've been acting all sweet and proper and- it's really strange, fox. It isn't like you at all. And you wouldn't be doing it if there wasn't a reason."

Megumi's eyes snapped up to his then. "Really _strange?_" she asked frostily, pulling out of his grasp to turn away from him sharply, and busied herself with stacking jars of ingredients on the end of the long examining table. "Gods, you men really are something. You can't handle honesty and straightforwardness in a woman, but you don't like a girl to be soft, either. There's just no winning with you all."

Sano stared at Megumi's back. "What the hell are you talking about?"

She whirled on him, eyes blazing. "I'm talking about Tono-san, who told me I had too sharp a tongue, and Wakana-san, who implied that I was too cold and unfeeling to warrant a second meeting, and Sashiwara-san, who said I could never be a good wife because I'm too blunt and unashamed in front of men…and you, you big idiot, who only scowled and grimaced at me when I tried to change my ways!"

She smacked an open palm once, twice, against his chest, punctuating her words.

Sano arrested the movement as she went to strike him a third time and easily pinned her hand against himself. "I still don't know what the fuck you're saying. Explain it to me," he growled, "_Now_."

Megumi seemed to sag, the anger draining out of her in a rush, but the words came slowly, as if she had to struggle to bite them out. "I'm twenty-two, Sano. Practically past marriageable age. And I can't rely on Gensai-sensei for the rest of my life – there's barely enough money coming into the clinic to support his family, I can't stand that he has to take care of me as well."

"And?" Sano prompted, squeezing her hand a little tighter, feeling a foreboding sense that he already knew where this story was going.

"…And so I went to Gensai- sensei's wife and asked her to arrange meetings with some respectable men, to see if a future with one of them would be possible."

"_Omiai_?" Sano snarled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Yes, well, that was the opinion of all the candidates as well. Apparently women like me who work for a living and who aren't demure young ladies are unacceptable as brides. So I decided to, well…" She trailed off, eyes skittering away from his once more.

"You decided _what exactly_?" Sano could feel his temper rising at a breathtaking speed.

She must have felt the anger beginning to roll off him because her voice stumbled when she spoke. "I decided to practice…o-on you. To see if that's the kind of woman men really want. I couldn't try it on Ken-san because he's never exactly been like other men. Besides, he already has Kaoru, and, well, that already speaks towards his preferences. A-and Yahiko's just a boy."

"So. You chose me. To fucking play around with." Sano pushed her against the table, caging her between his arms and looming over her, so close that they stood almost nose to nose. Her chest brushed against him as she breathed – rapid and shallow, like a rabbit in a trap. "And what did you learn, Megumi-_sensei_?"

He expected Megumi to lash back at him, for his anger had never failed to rouse hers. He was fully prepared for her to start throwing things, eyes blazing and lips snarled, but when she met his gaze, her eyes were covered with a film of unshed tears.

"I learned that I am undesirable. The way I am isn't good enough, and when I fake it, it isn't believable. I have my friends, but you will all take your own paths eventually. Kenshin and Kaoru will be busy with family and children one day. And I-I will truly be alone again."

Sano's looked at her, at her fragile countenance and the slight trembling of her chin, and took a breath. And then another for good measure, because he was still angry as hell. Sano had forgotten that Megumi, as self-sufficient as she was, still had to be reminded that she was needed somehow, that she would not be so isolated and lonely and scared again. He had forgotten the despair Takeda Kanryu had given her and that sorrow such as that was not easily shaken off.

"Megumi, why do you give a shit what men think about you? You're a good person and a damn fine doctor. You gave Tawada that medicine even when you didn't have much left because you knew he couldn't afford it. Hell, you even saved his pride by not telling him it was charity."

Megumi smiled tremulously. "I aim to please."

Sano sighed, "You do, fox. But trying to change your manner to satisfy the fantasy of some pissants because you think they're the answer to the future is doing yourself a disservice. Kenshin and Kaoru aren't going anywhere – even if they pop out a kid or two there's not going to forget their friends. And Yahiko's too hooked on Tsubame to leave."

"And you?" she asked.

Sano exhaled. "Well, I can't promise you anything, fox. But wherever I go, I can tell you that I'll always come back here. There's nowhere else in the world where they'll believe what we've gone through."

His paused, his voice gentling a bit. "You're fine the way you are, Megumi, so don't go acting like someone you're not. Even if the way you really are is a pain in my ass sometimes."

Sano winced at his own words. He never was good at talking; he was more a man of action, but Megumi gave a low laugh. "I appreciate that, Sano."

"Right," he muttered, anger gone and feeling decidedly wrong footed. He shoved off the counter, "Well, 'night, fox-lady." He said, turning toward the door, "Try not to seduce any of your patients from now on; I'm pretty sure it's bad for business."

"Seduce?"

He turned back to her. "What?"

She lifted up on her toes, her small hands sliding up his shoulders, and kissed him gently on the corner of his mouth.

The contact burned him straight to the depths of his being, and he could only stand, rooted to the spot, as she took a step back and turned, smiled shyly and said, "Nothing. Good night, Sano."

_Ahh_, he thought, _she shouldn't have done that. _

Because the last few weeks of restless dreams and fleeting touches and anger had built a tension in Sano, a buzzing chord of restraint that he didn't know was there until it snapped violently under the touch of her lips.

He caught her arm and pulled her around to face him, ignoring her little gasp of surprise as he twined one hand deep into her black hair, and kissed her.

It wasn't gentle.

He channeled weeks of frustration and confusion into the kiss, bringing her flush against him as he assaulted her mouth, nipping at her bottom lip.

His could hear the rush of his own blood in his ears, the buzzing of excitement in the base of his skull, but he couldn't think – he could only feel the way her mouth moved against his.

He tugged on her long hair, angling her face up toward him so he could taste her better, and Megumi obliged him, but whether it was out of shock or actual desire he had no idea.

It was when he lifted a hand to cup her face, tracing the fine line of her cheekbone with his thumb that she answered him.

Megumi moaned, an unbelievably sweet sound that sent a heady wave of desire pouring through Sano's veins. He took the opportunity to slide his tongue past her teeth as her hands fluttered on his shoulders.

Color burst behind his eyelids as her tongue curled shyly around his. Gods, he had kissed women before, but never like this, never had he_ needed_ it.

And now she was responding to him even more, beginning to kiss him back just as ferociously, fisting her tiny hands in his hair, pulling him closer. She broke away, panting, but he didn't give her the chance to catch her breath, leaning down to test his teeth on the soft, milky white skin of her throat. She whimpered at the sensation, vibrations tingling over Sano's tongue as he laved a stripe against her pulse point.

She was sweet, like sakura and medicine and _Megumi._ "'Taste so fucking good, fox, you're driving me insane," he growled against her neck. He was rewarded an instant later when her hands yanked sharply on his hair. He snarled at the sensation, the heat in his blood ratcheting up another notch. She was more reserved than he was, obviously less experienced, but the thought that he could coax reactions out of her like that was intoxicating.

His body was fairly buzzing with energy already, and he couldn't stop his free hand from running restlessly down her back, feeling the soft slope of her spine and the curve of her waist through the layers of her clothes.

Megumi removed her hands from his hair and he almost protested at the loss of contact but soon she put them to more devastating work: she scraped her nails down his bare chest, over the bandages around his middle, and caressed along the planes of his back, under his jacket.

Unbidden, he wondered how hard those nails would bite into his shoulders if he brought her to climax, her thighs trembling around his hips while she sobbed his name.

Sano groaned helplessly and kissed her urgently once more, hands trailing from her hair and her back to squeeze her ass roughly. She gasped something that sounded like his name, and her hips bucked against him.

Sano cursed, unprepared for the exquisite feeling of that friction flooding his cock.

Alarm bells started going off in some distant part of his brain, but Megumi pulled him down to meet her mouth again, eyes hazy with need, so instead of stopping, Sano lifted her easily onto the counter behind them, yanking the fold of her _yukata_ until the garment opened to her mid-thigh and he could slide between her knees, never breaking the kiss.

Megumi welcomed the change, eagerly wrapping her legs around his waist. The image raced through Sano's head again, causing him to grind against her.

"_Please. Nngh, p-please, Sano-oh!" _She was panting electrifying words against his ear, begging him for-

_Gods._

With a will-power he didn't know he possessed, Sano wrenched himself away from her, but even so the sight of the pristine Megumi with her hair in disarray, mouth swollen from his kisses, her eyes half-mast and her chest heaving with exertion was almost more than he could bear.

_ 'I decided to practice on you.' _

Well, he had certainly given her more practice than she'd ever had in her fucking life. What the hell was he doing to a _friend_?

A friend who had been vulnerable and afraid.

"Enough," he muttered, voice still hoarse with arousal. He ran shaking hands through hair, feeling disgusted with himself.

"Sano, I-"

"No. I'm -_shit_\- I'm sorry, Megumi. This shouldn't have happened."

He couldn't look at her, sitting there all disheveled from his touch.

_Looking so goddamn beautiful._

He turned, ignoring her calling his name, the confusion in her voice, and left her there in the dark.

* * *

**Reviews welcome, my dears!**


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